Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta reported a revenue surplus of just over $1 million last year, but a state audit found that the school actually had a $1.5 million deficit.
The finding was part of the University System of Georgia’s fiscal 2013 financial report, which was presented Wednesday during a state Board of Regents meeting.
The discrepancy occurred when university finance officials incorrectly allocated summer school revenues. Instead of splitting the money over the two fiscal years that the summer session covered, they allocated the money to just fiscal 2013, which ran July 1, 2012, through June 30, 2013.
“So one year’s (finances) was overstated and one year was understated,” said Mike Foxman, SPSU’s interim vice president of business and finance. An SPSU spokesman said the accounting issue did not have any direct impact on students and faculty.
The state audit reported that SPSU’s original budget statements contained “significant and material errors and omissions.”
The University System sent Foxman and another staffer to Southern Poly to fix the financial reporting problems. After reallocating the revenue correctly, the school ultimately received an OK on its financial statements from state auditors.
Correcting the financial problems is important as the system prepares to present a merger plan to an accrediting agency for SPSU’s consolidation with Kennesaw State University.
The SPSU employee who previously held Foxman’s position resigned from the school to take a position in another state, but his resignation was unrelated to the financial discrepancies, school spokesman Jim Cooper said.
A former controller also resigned from the university. When asked whether the controller was asked to resign, Cooper and Foxman declined to comment.
“I don’t think there was any intent to mislead,” said Claire Arnold, director of the state audit department’s education audit division. “These were more accounting errors that were found with year-end work.”
Arnold’s team works with the University System to determine an auditing schedule for the system’s 31 institutions. Fiscal 2012 was the first time SPSU had been audited in three years, Arnold said. That review turned up problems, which prompted another state audit of fiscal 2013 finances.
State auditors also reported problems with student financial aid compliance at some institutions. That review, which is an accrediting agency requirement, was new to the institutions in fiscal 2013. Many of the issues involved unused federal aid funds that were not returned in a timely manner.
Overall, state auditors reported 11 fewer financial problems with the University System institutions reviewed between fiscal 2012 and 2013. Twenty-four financial issues were reported in fiscal 2012, compared with 13 in the 2013 report.
Georgia State, Georgia Tech, Georgia Southern, Kennesaw State, the University of Georgia and the University System office were recognized in the report for excellent financial reporting.
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